A Silent Storm
by Ramgigon
Summary: The Lycian Marquess of Ryerde is the source, the cause of political dissenters vanishing from Ryerde's royal city. To stop him, and his aloof assassin Cloud, the Black Fang is summoned from Bern, with Legault at the head. Secret Santa fic for Gunlord500
1. The Hardest Mission

"To the Black Fang?"

Legault raised his glass, and with a cheer of "to the Black Fang," the other six at the table joined in the toast.

"With the Hurricane here," the one to Legault's left, laid-back and smirking, took a long sip from his glass. "This'll be another easy mission, won't it?"

"Never take the foe lightly." Legault sighed with a little smirk, setting down his goblet without drinking from it.

"Even if we've got the Hurricane with us?" The one to his left asked. "Hey, you're going to do that thing again, right?"

"I do it every time." Legault said, pulling a teal vial from his robes and popping it open, taking a short sniff. "Ah… putrid as always."

With that, he poured it into his drink, and took a satisfied sip, to the rowdy laughter of the group he was with.

"I can't believe you drink that stuff… what would happen if I drank it?" Another voice asked.

"Well, first, you'd get a little cough." Legault said, taking another sip. "Then your insides would turn to liquid, and after you died, your skin would start to melt, too. Gold-back swamp serpent venom is famous for turning people into puddles, you know."

"And you drink it?" One of them laughed. Legault shrugged, as if defending himself.

"I don't want to carry around something that'll kill me. If I carry poison, I need to be immune to it."

The group burst into laughter again, and with a smirk, Legault carried on drinking his poisoned wine.

It was a jovial occasion – something of a standard among the Black Fang just before a mission. Get the spirits high, and they'll be more likely to stay fighting while their friends are dying around them. Typical tactic, thought Legault.

This mission was particularly notable – there were only seven, a low-key but high-importance mission. The Hurricane, famous assassin of the Fang, had been called from Bern out to Lycia, a territory called Ryerde, to 'negotiate' with the Marquess, who executed dissenters without mercy. With him were sent six friends to watch his back, while he dealt with the corrupt Marquess.

And so they had an extra-special party before it, wine flowing freely and barrels of food being devoured in the crudest fashion, loud and obnoxious jokes being told, and people collapsing from overeating and from too much wine right after or even, in one case, during the party.

Legault, who had limited himself to only one poisoned cup of wine and just enough food to keep himself running for the next day, laughed and smiled along with his friends, those few friends an assassin can make, and once it had partied itself out of energy, he crept away to his bed in the outpost.

And despite all the merriment and laughter, he had a heavy heart, knowing his mission was going to be anything but easy – rather, it could very well be the hardest mission that had faced him since he had joined the Fang.

The Marquess didn't just order dissenters killed… he set an assassin on them. An assassin to match, or even to outclass, the famous Hurricane…

"Well. Here's hoping I don't die." He sighed, before he went to sleep.

* * *

><p>Here's my Secret Santa fanfic for Gunlord500~ Hope you like it so far~ o

Cheers go out to Fire Emblem MewMew for setting up the whole thing~ You're awesome as usual, FEMM~ cx

Sorry I'm late with it, by the waaaay... and even then that I only finished the first two chapters~ ^^' So siiiiiick right now, this sucks orz

... but anyway, Gunlord or whoever, thanks for reading, hope you like it~ \o/


	2. A Cloud and a Hurricane

The sky was blue… not a cloud in sight, which Legault found lovely, if a little ironic.

He walked through the streets, away from the Black Fang outpost, and down that short road to the royal castle of Marquess Ryerde. A number of people hurried through the streets around him, but otherwise, his path was mostly clear – there were few people eager to stand outside for long in Ryerde's royal city, known as the Disappearing City for the citizens' tendencies to disappear not long after troubling the Marquess in any way.

Well, it made things easier for him. Fewer people to get in his way, and with the city's reputation, appearing under the guise of a curious Ostian envoy would be far from odd.

Still, it wouldn't pay to get careless around that assassin… around that Cloud.

"Hold." A voice through a curious horned yellow helm that hid the speaker's face, the castle guard. "On what grounds do you come here?"

Legault gave him a swift and practiced bow. "I come here on political matters, as an envoy from Ostia. Shall I present you my papers?"

"Hm." The guard shook his head. "There's no need. If you want to go in, go in. The castle's been slow as of late, so even if you stir up something bad, they'll probably thank you."

"Slow, hm?" Legault said with a calm smile.

"Well, you know." The guard said, sounding a little more uncomfortable. "The Disappearing City's been a pretty bad place to do anything lately."

"Hey, that's enough." From the other side of the arch they stood in, another guard looked at the two of them. "If you say things like that, you'll spread the rumors further."

"Still think they're rumors? By god, you're as stubborn as ever." The first guard complained. "I tell you, that blind loyalty-"

"Really, if you do believe the Marquess is killing people off for giving him a hard time, one would think you'd watch your mouth a little more." The second guard said, with a sigh. "Look, anyway, envoy from Ostia, just go on. I hope your meeting with the Marquess goes well… don't mind the rumors, all right?"

"I'll keep that in mind." Legault said with a wave, walking through the arch past them. "Thank you for your time, you both."

The first guard said something but Legault ignored it, walking straight ahead through a tunnel of several arches that turned into stairs at the end. He walked up towards the great gate at the top, thinking to himself.

Even the castle workers don't know the real story, Legault thought… but they were catching on.

Like a good assassin would do with any info, he tucked it away nice and tidy in his mind, along with several ideas on how to use it for his mission.

The guard wasn't lying – the castle was quiet. No doubt, with rumors flying around about the Marquess killing off the people he didn't like, the castle wouldn't be the most popular place to visit.

The halls were tall and made from blocks of black stone and of white stone, a somehow fascinating combination that Legault thought about as he went up staircase after staircase. The whole thing was built so strangely – it got higher and higher as it went inwards, and the Marquess's ruling chamber was in the center, and thus the highest point. It was easy to navigate – to get to the center, logically, Legault just had to take every staircase going up that he could find.

The guards clad in yellow, with their curious horned helms that made them look awfully unwelcoming, stood uncomfortably at their posts and their patrol paths, as fascinated by the presence of a well-dressed visitor as they were unsettled by the rumors of the Marquess's shadow into which people were disappearing.

Eventually, he stepped into a huge and elaborate room that was decorated with so many different kinds of plants and statues running down the rows, a room that probably would have cost a few million gold – at the far end, sitting facing him with six guards around him, and one robed figure next to him, was the Marquess with his assassin, Cloud.

"Halt!" A voice from his right and a lance came down in front of him to bar his path, Legault didn't flinch at that guard, one of the ones watching the door to the throne room. "What business do you have with the Marquess?"

Legault looked at him with a casual glance. "I'm an envoy from Ostia… I'm here to speak to the Marquess Ryerde, with the voice of the Marquess Ostia."

"Ostia… is that so." The guard said, relaxing his stance. "I trust you have identification?"

Legault flashed him a set of papers – all skillfully forged by a trustworthy contact, of course – and the lance raised to let him through. "All right, you're clear to go through. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's no problem." Legault waved absentmindedly, walking on ahead towards the Marquess, whose gaze hid had been fixed on since he entered the room.

He reached the steps up to the throne's platform, and looked at the Marquess with a casual smile. With a dark and serious gaze, from dark and serious features, the Marquess looked back from his throne.

He forced himself not to look at Cloud… from whom he could feel a scarily murderous aura coming.

Legault got down onto one knee, breaking the standstill of gazes, and bowed his head. "Your majesty."

"Rise." The Marquess said in a deep and powerful voice. Doing as he said, Legault stood back up, looking up to meet his gaze again.

Marquess Ryerde was a large man, tall and well-built, he looked like he could probably wrestle a bear or three and come out with nary a scratch. Overly elaborate clothes robed his body and fell down to the floor, and a huge sword hung at his side Legault didn't doubt he could wield like it weighed nothing.

"Your majesty, I am sent by Marquess Ostia." Legault said, his voice not faltering despite, admittedly, feeling extremely uncomfortable being surrounded by so many well-armed foes. "It is from his lips that the words I bring come, so please listen as though I am the Marquess in the flesh before you."

"I understand." Marquess Ryerde, sounding somewhat irritated by the formality, said. "Speak."

"Very well." Legault cleared his throat, and continued in a louder voice. "If you'll excuse the question, you understand that I must ask – is it true that your royal city has attained the title of the 'Disappearing City,' from people vanishing by your command?"

The guards around him started, but were stayed by one small hand gesture from the Marquess. The room fell into deathly silence for a minute, and then the Marquess's booming voice shattered it.

"I am loathe to admit my city has achieved that title. A simple walk in the street will prove it to you." The Marquess said, sounding simultaneously angered and morose. "But there has been, of course, no such… mass executions, as the rumors speak of. This, I can swear to the Marquess Ostia, and to every other Marquess out there without a flinch in my heart."

He guarded his manner well, Legault thought to himself.

"Of course." Legault said. "Forgive my asking, truly I – nor the Marquess Ostia – would not think the Marquess Ryerde such a person to do such a thing. But, it piques the curiosity of all Lycia – why, then, has it achieved such a grim title?"

"If I only knew myself." The Marquess said, his angry and morose tone yet more intense. "Investigation after investigation I have asked, but even then the investigators themselves disappear. To my despair, to the despair of all Ryerde, the disappearances are happening – but why, none are certain."

"… I had the pleasure of a walk through your city before coming here." Legault said. "It certainly seems as though a great many people believe you to be the culprit – far be it from the opinion of Ostia, of course."

"Indeed." The Marquess boomed. "In times of crisis, people look to their leader, for help, or for a place to cast responsibility. And indeed, I myself am to blame for allowing this to go on as long as it has."

"And yet you have no idea the true cause." Legault confirmed, and with a shake of his head, the Marquess responded that he had none.

"A grim case…" Legault murmured just loud enough for the Marquess to hear. "It certainly seems that it would take a great deal of power to be behind these incidents… there should be no man with enough power to be responsible, doesn't it seem so?"

At this point, Legault made a critical, and fatal error.

As he spoke, he glanced to the side, at Cloud.

His face, his expression, held no emotions but loyalty to his corrupt Marquess… no pity, no remorse, no fear. He saw, there, the perfect assassin, and for a blink, Legault felt mortal.

"Indeed… logically, it would seem to be a group that is behind it." The Marquess said, a mysterious edge to his voice. "And yet, for a group of killers to hide as well as they have… no doubt, we will find them soon. Please tell the Marquess Ostia I said so."

Legault looked up, a little surprised, and then quickly he bowed his head. "Yes, your majesty, rest assured that your words shall reach his ears. If that is all you have to say on the matter, I shall return to Ostia."

"There is nothing more to be said." The Marquess boomed, sounding definitive and impossible to disagree with. "I only wish that more could be said, that there should be more to say, but alas – all there is to say is that we are still powerless before this mysterious killer."

"Thank you, your majesty. I wish all the best to you in this matter, and I'm sure the Marquess Ostia would tell you the same." Legault said, bowing deeply and turning to leave.

"… Have a safe trip back." The Marquess said darkly, as Legault left the room.

After a second of empty silence in the room, Cloud finally spoke.

"Your Majesty-" He said in a cold voice.

"Indeed." The Marquess said, just loud enough for the assassin by his side to hear, and far short of loud enough for the guards. "That was hardly an envoy… it seems someone is onto us."

"Just give the mission." Cloud said.

"… That man is your target. Kill him where there are no witnesses."


End file.
